Police arrest 10 in early morning drug raids

Ten people have been arrested this morning after dawn police raids to stamp out drug dealing. More than 100 officers swooped on nine addresses at 6am after months of investigation into the distribution of heroin and crack cocaine.

Superintendent Catherine Hankinson, from Greater Manchester Police's Oldham Division, said: “Today shows that the desire to rid our communities of the blight of drugs is continuous and we will go back and keep tackling the issue in the same area as many times as necessary until the problem is dealt with.

“Residents told us that class A drug dealing was a worry to them so we have responded robustly to combat this.

“Drugs wreck lives and the crime associated with them causes misery to the whole community - so we do everything possible to find out who is responsible and put them before the courts.

“These arrests are the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by officers and our counterparts at the Crown Prosecution Service. We have used divisional and force resources to gather the intelligence we needed to take this action. It is not a quick process and we thank the community for their patience while we have been building the strongest case possible.”

It is the latest in a long line of raids to stamp out drug dealing, codenamed Operation Rescind, during which 50 people have been arrested. This was the fourth Operation Rescind.

Extra officers from Oldham's neighbourhood policing teams will be patrolling the area today. Drugs support workers will be involved in the operation to offer support.